


Not a House, But a Home (reupload)

by Strangexunusual



Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: Alternate Universe, Betrayal, Demon Deals, Demon Powers, Demon Summoning, Demons, Emotional, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Emotions, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Lies, Manipulation, Multi, Murder, Rating May Change, Running Away, Tricksters, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-11 22:46:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29375151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strangexunusual/pseuds/Strangexunusual
Summary: What if the Maitlands were alive and the Deetzes moved in?Saving up money for supplies for their upcoming first child, the Maitlands decide to share their house with another family: the Deetzes. And everything seems to be going well for both families.Well... at least it was up until Lydia accidentally summons a certain demon.
Relationships: Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland, Charles Deetz/Delia Deetz
Comments: 5
Kudos: 10





	1. A New Family

The coldness of a blustery winter day behind him as he entered their house and closed the door, Adam hung up his coat and moved further into the house. 

His wife could be heard on the upstairs floor, most likely starting up work on either the nursery for their unborn first child or one of the two bedrooms that a family they were to share their house with were going to sleep in. 

"Barbara! I'm home!" Adam called out. 

She shouted back down to him and he made his way upstairs to the now gothic looking bedroom at the end of the hall. Barbara was putting the finishing touches on it, then she was planning on moving to sort out the bedroom that belonged to the adults of the family coming to live with them. She met up with her husband in the hallway and they made their way to the one room that would no longer be their guest bedroom after that particular day came to an end. 

Earlier, Barbara had gotten a call from the other family letting her know that they were going to be moving in that very day, so she had very little time until then. And that particular call was a little over an hour ago. 

Adam had grabbed queen sized sheets from the closet in his and Barbara's bedroom, sheets they were initially going to use but then had no use for; so they kept them in said closet until a time, like now, they needed them. Carrying them into the former guest room, Barbara helped Adam put them on the guest bed. Then, an hour passed, and the bedroom was almost complete. It just needed one more thing, but neither Adam or Barbara knew what it was. 

A knock sounded on the house's front door, alerting Barbara. 

"Oh! That must be them! I'll be right back!" And, with that, she rushed downstairs to the main floor of the house. 

She made her way to the front door as a second, louder knock sounded on it. Opening the door, she caught sight of the family of three that they'd be sharing their house with. A tall brunette man dressed in an entirely gray suit, a redheaded woman wearing a purple striped dress, and a teenager decked out head to toe in black. 

With a warm smile, Barbara welcomed them in right as Adam came down the stairs.

"Hi! I'm Barbara, and this is my husband, Adam!" she greeted in a chipper voice as all four adults sat down in the living room. The teenage girl, however, had opted to just take a look around the house, eventually moving upstairs.

"I'm Charles!" the other male introduced himself. "And this is my second wife, Delia. Thank you for allowing us to share this house with you." 

Adam and Barbara looked up in unison as a door slamming sounded loudly from the upstairs hallway, Barbara asking, "and your daughter? Is she doing okay?"

"Lydia's just going through a rough patch in her life right now. She lost her mom a few months ago to cancer and it's really hit her hard," replied Charles, sadness present in the tone of his voice. 

"I'm sorry to hear that. Do you want me to check on her?" asked Barbara, going to stand up and sitting down again when Charles shook his head.

"I'd leave her be right now." 

"No. I insist," said Barbara, again standing up. "You and Delia get settled in. Adam and I will go upstairs and check on Lydia." 

Charles thought to himself for a few minutes, then agreed, him and Delia heading upstairs to their new bedroom. Adam and Barbara also made their way upstairs, heading over towards the gothic bedroom that now belonged to Lydia. Calmly and gently, Barbara knocked a few times on the door. 

"If you're my dad or stepmother, go away! I'm not in the mood to talk right now!" 

Barbara glanced at Adam, then calmly pushed open the door to Lydia's bedroom. They found the teenager sat on her bed, buried in a blanket and facing away from the door. Not to mention she clearly appeared to be both sniffing and crying. 

"Good thing we're neither of them," replied Barbara. 

Lydia turned to face the two of them and they noticed that her eyes were puffy and red and her cheeks were stained with tears. Then she turned away from them again. Barbara moved to sit on the bed next to Lydia, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. 

"Losing a parent is never easy. You want to talk about it?" 

Lydia made an inaudible noise that both Adam and Barbara perceived as being negative. 

Barbara nodded in understanding, then stood up before moving to leave the room with Adam. "That's okay. If you do want to talk about it sometime later, you can come downstairs if you want." 

In response, Lydia made yet another inaudible noise as Adam and Barbara closed the door and headed back downstairs, leaving her be.


	2. Calm Abiding

The Maitlands were in the kitchen and Charles and Delia were out doing something that would take them quite a while when Lydia finally decided to come downstairs, choosing to sit herself down on the living room couch, turn on the television set, and use her phone for the time being. Barbara glanced at the time on the microwave. 11:25 in the morning. A mere hour and a half after she and Adam both headed upstairs to make sure Lydia was doing okay. 

Barbara stopped what she was doing and glanced over in Lydia's direction, worried for the teenager.

"Lydia-," started Barbara, only to be cut off when Lydia yelled,

"I'M FINE! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" 

But neither Barbara nor Adam was going to take that as an answer, both of them instead opting to sit down on either side of the teenager. Lydia put her phone down, glancing from Adam to Barbara and back again. Then she turned her attention back down towards the living room floor. 

"What do you want?!" she huffed. 

Barbara glanced at Adam, then rested an arm around Lydia's shoulder. "Do you want to talk?" 

Lydia just grunted, "there's nothing to talk about!" 

"But don't you want to talk about your dead mom?" questioned Barbara. "We figured that because you came downstairs that you-."

"Gahhhh!!" Lydia said, standing up, stomping her way upstairs, and slamming her bedroom door closed with a loud bang which only served to concern Adam and Barbara even more than they already were. 

Maybe Charles was right. Maybe they should leave Lydia alone for the time being.

And it was indecisively clear to them that Lydia probably and most likely needed the time to herself. 

Adam grabbed the remote and switched on the tv, and he and Barbara had just sat down to watch something when Barbara heard the clear sounds of Lydia throwing various stuff about in her bedroom. Quickly, Barbara, followed by Adam, got up from the couch and they quickly made their way upstairs to Lydia's room. 

The bedroom's door was open just a crack, and Barbara could clearly see what appeared to be the teenager's lamp laying on its side in the middle of the floor. Barbara sighed quietly to herself and entered the teenager's bedroom, picking up the apparently not shattered lamp that the teenager had thrown to the floor in what had initially sounded like a huge fit of rage to Barbara and putting it back where it originally had been. She found the teenager slumped over in one corner of her bedroom, facing away from her and Adam. 

When Barbara took a few steps towards Lydia, the teenager let out yet another negative inaudible noise - one that made her back up again. Sharing a rather worrisome glance with Adam, Barbara followed him out of the bedroom and they both slowly made their way back downstairs. Barbara focused her attention on a clock as they entered the living room and sat down to watch tv. 

It was after twelve and therefore lunchtime. 

Before Barbara could get up and make some lunch for her, Adam, and Lydia if she wanted any, Lydia came stomping down the stairs and made her way into the kitchen area, starting to prepare her own lunch; which only served to concern both Adam and Barbara even more so. Barbara again stood up and headed into the kitchen herself. 

"Need help?" she asked, grabbing the teenager's attention and causing her to look over at her, a skeptical look crossing her face. Eventually, she just returned her attention back to making her own lunch. 

"Nah! I'm good. Thanks for asking," was all Lydia said, sounding a little calmer than she was earlier. 

Barbara nodded and began preparing lunch for herself and for Adam, hoping and trying to strike up a conversation with the teenager as she did so. But all Lydia was wanting to do was make her lunch and then head back upstairs. She was only slightly surprised when Barbara said she didn't need to to spend all of her time upstairs and that both her and Adam wanted a chance to get to know her better. She sighed, then decided to spend some time with the Maitlands. 

Strangely, things had gotten awkward quite quickly. Lydia sat opposite from both Adam and Barbara, looking between the two of them and quietly eating her lunch at a slow pace that brought worry to both Adam and Barbara.

The teen had not spoken a single word to either of them, even though Adam and Barbara were both trying their best to get the teen to open up to them. She finished up her lunch and picked up her empty plate, carrying it over to the sink and setting it down before opting to head back upstairs. 

"Lydia, wait!" Barbara called out, stopping the teen in her tracks and causing her to turn and look in her direction. Barbara placed a hand on Lydia's shoulder as she moved closer to her again. "You barely talked to either one of us during lunch. And, like your dad and stepmother, we don't want you holed up in your bedroom all day and not wanting to at least spend time with others."

Lydia sighed and moved over to the living room, sitting right smack dab in the middle of the couch and Adam and Barbara sat down on either side of her; Adam picking up the remote and switching on the television. He flipped through the channels until something caught Lydia's eye and she demanded Adam turn it on. What neither he and/or Barbara were expecting, however, was for Lydia to have decided on a horror film of all things. 

Now, Adam and Barbara usually didn't watch horror movies that often as they seemed to scare them much too much; but if Lydia wanted to watch a horror movie, then that's what they had to watch. 

Hopefully, it would get Lydia to open up to the Maitlands more. There was a lot more that they didn't know about the teenager; but the good thing was she seemed to be happier than she was earlier. And the Maitlands silently hoped that she wouldn't go back to being holed up in her room after the film playing on the television ended. 

But when the movie got much too gory for both Adam and Barbara, the latter of the two turned to Lydia with a pleading look on her face. “I don’t suppose there’s something else on the tv that you want to watch instead of this is there, Lydia?”

“I also like ghost shows but I would much rather wait to watch one of those until after this is over. If you don’t mind, that is?” 

Barbara sighed quietly to herself, turning her attention over to the tv and covering her face with her hands when an extremely gory scene played on the tv. Then removed one of her hands when it sounded as though the previous scene had come to an end. 

Lydia, feeling hungry again, asked Adam for some popcorn and the male stood up and moved over to the kitchen, grabbing three white bowls from one of the overhead cupboards and three bags of popcorn from the pantry. He put the bags of popcorn in the microwave one by one and came back with two bowls of popcorn in his hands; one for Barbara and the other for Lydia. Handing them to both females, he turned and went back into the kitchen to grab his bowl of popcorn then came back into the living room, sitting down in his spot on the couch to the right of Lydia. 

And what had first started as a calm moment in time where Adam and Barbara were getting to know a little about Lydia quickly went downhill.


	3. Cause for Concern

Adam and Barbara stood at the bottom of the stairs as Lydia stomped her way upstairs and to her room, slamming the door loudly behind her with a loud huff. This was something that still brought worry to Adam and Barbara. They hadn't gotten to know that much about Lydia before Barbara accidentally said something that had set the teenager off. And now the grown woman wanted nothing more than to just apologize to Lydia and make it up to her. But she wasn't sure if the teen was going to accept the apology or if she was going to stay mad at her for as long as they lived. 

God, she hoped it would be the former of the two scenarios. 

She plopped herself down on the couch and placed a pillow behind her head, a saddened look on her face. Adam sat beside her, turning his head in her direction. 

"Want some ice cream?" he offered, holding out an empty bowl and a spoon to his wife. 

"No thanks. I'm good..." she mumbled. "But maybe later." 

Ice cream always seemed to make Barbara feel better when she was feeling down, which made Adam concerned as to why she didn't want any this time around

He stood up and made his way back into the kitchen area, putting the still empty bowl back in the appropriate cupboard and the spoon back in the silverware drawer. Figuring it was best to leave his wife be for a while, Adam made his way up to the second floor of the house and walked down the hallway before entering his and Barbara's room and closing the door behind him. 

Downstairs, Barbara stood up from the couch and paused what was currently playing on the television before exiting the living room and making her way upstairs. She paused outside the closed door to her and Adam's bedroom and hesitated before pushing the door open and making her way inside.

"Adam..." 

He paused and turned his head, catching sight of his wife, sat silently on the edge of their bed, her legs kicking back and forth as her eyes focused on the carpeted floor. He stood up and made his way over to her, getting up onto their bed next to her and resting an arm around her shoulder. 

"You okay?" 

She shifted a little, looking away from the carpeted floor and over at him, twirling a strand of her blonde hair around her finger. 

"Kinda... but not really..." she responded meekly, again looking down at the carpet. 

"Do you still want ice cream? I could go downstairs, make some for you, and then bring it back upstairs if you want." 

"No... not right now at least... I'm worried about Lydia. Is she still in her room?" 

"No. At least I don't think so. I think I heard her footsteps sound down the hallway earlier and then fade away," Adam said silently. "I heard what sounded like the front door to the house opening and closing. Did you?" 

"No," Barbara replied softly. She shifted again and focused her attention back over towards Adam. "Want to go look for her and at least make sure she's at least doing okay?" 

"You took the words right out of my mouth." 

Nodding to each other, the Maitlands stood up from their bed and exiting their bedroom in hopes of locating the teenager and making sure she was doing okay. After checking every place in the house and not having that much luck (she wasn't anywhere on the main or the second floor, or in the basement, or on the roof and that was starting to make the both of them worried.

What if Lydia had run away?

Charles and Delia would certainly not be happy if they found out...

Adam and Barbara looked at one another, nodding, Barbara pulling out her phone to call Lydia's dad. 

About a minute later, Charles picked up. "Barbara-." 

"Charles... your daughter... I think she ran away..."

"WHAT?!" Barbara had to hold the phone away from her ear at the sheer volume of Charles' shouting. He eventually calmed down a few minutes later and Barbara calmly held her phone against her ear again. "What happened?!"

"Adam and I were getting to know her a little and I accidentally said something that set her off and caused her to storm upstairs and slam her bedroom door shut loudly. I think it was to pack up her things. Adam said he heard her footsteps sounding down the hall and the front door opening and closing." 

"Okay," he said after a shortened moment of silence. "You and Adam go out and search for her. Once you find her, try to convince her to go home with you. When Delia and I get home this evening, we'll take some time after we have dinner to sit down with her and talk to her about it. Okay?"

"Okay. Thanks Charles." She hung up and turned her attention to Adam. "He said for us to go out and find her. Hopefully she didn't go too far. Can you grab the car keys?" 

He nodded and went to find them. When he returned with the keys and quickly put his shoes on, Barbara was already stood by the door to the garage and waiting for him. The two of them made their way outside as Adam handed Barbara the keys, her getting in the driver's seat and Adam getting in the passenger’s seat. Opening the garage door and pulling the car out, Barbara closed it and turned her attention to Adam.

“Did you hear her say anything at all about running away from home as she passed by our bedroom on her way downstairs?” 

He shook his head no in response. “No. She was silent the whole time. Like I said earlier, I only heard her footsteps sounding down the hallway and the house’s front door opening and closing. That’s it.” 

She nodded, driving for another forty five minutes before catching sight of Lydia standing by the side of the road with her attention focused on a store across the road. As Lydia walked across the road to said store, Barbara quickly pulled her car into the store’s parking lot not to far from where Lydia had come to a stop. 

Turning off the car, getting out, and locking it, Barbara and Adam made their way over towards the teenager. 

“Lyd. Thank goodness you’re alright.” 

“What do you guys want?” Lydia turned away from them and folded her arms, a scowl forming on her face. One which quickly transitioned to a look of sadness that meant she regretted running away from home.

Adam and Barbara looked confusedly at one another, Barbara stepping forward and placing a hand on Lydia’s shoulder. “Lydia, by running away from home, you got us worried, you got your dad worried. I literally had to call your dad on the phone and let him know immediately about you running away. Needless to say, he’s not at all happy.” 

“So?!” Lydia scoffed and turned her attention back to the Maitlands. “He doesn’t need me and Delia doesn’t need me. They’ll be better off without me around. You guys will be better off without me around.” 

A stern look crossed Barbara’s face as she placed a hand on her hip and glared at Lydia as the latter turned away from her and Adam again. “Listen here, young lady. Adam and I didn’t drive forty five minutes to find you to not return home without you. Your dad and stepmother will be coming home from work this evening with the intention of the four of us sitting down with you after dinner and talking to you about this.” 

“Ugghhhh....” grumbled Lydia, stomping her way over towards a nearby tree and sitting at its base, maneuvering herself into a fetal position. Adam and Barbara glanced at one another and sat down on either side of Lydia. 

“Lydia, look. You need to come home with us.” 

“No I don’t. I’m better off running away.” 

“Lydia, listen to Barbara. You need to come home with us,” Adam said, a similar stern look to his wife’s crossing his face.

“LEAVE ME ALONE!!!”

“Lydia-!” Barbara said sternly, eventually calming down a few minutes later and trying to look the teenager in the eyes. But Lydia closed her eyes and turned away from her and Adam, not wanting to look either of them in the eye. Barbara reached one of her hands out and placed it on Lydia’s back, eventually causing the teen to look at her, clear tears in her eyes. 

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have run away,” she apologized, looking at her reflection in Barbara’s eyes. “And I shouldn’t have snapped at you to leave me alone. It was wrong. Do you guys forgive me?” 

“Yes. And I’m sure your dad and stepmother will too once you tell them and us the reason why you ran away back home.” Barbara stood up, followed by Adam, and the two of them looked down at the teenager. “Now, do you want to go back home with us or would you rather stay all alone all the way out here?” 

“I think I’d rather go back home,” Lydia readily admitted, standing up and following Adam and Barbara back to their car.


	4. Tell it Like it is

Lydia lay on her back on the couch with her eyes focused on the ceiling whilst Adam and Barbara stood over by the stove, making dinner for that evening. 

Charles and Delia had let them know that they'd be home in half an hour, and that gave them plenty of time. Lydia dreaded the conversation she was to have after dinner, her running away not the first thing on her mind right now. Adam and Barbara, however, were still thinking about it. They had hope, though, that Lydia wasn't going to do it again, and so did her dad and Delia when they were told by the Maitlands that everything was okay now. 

Eventually, Charles and Delia came home, and the five of them ate their dinner slowly, the outcome of the conversation after dinner fresh on their minds. All they were hoping was that it hopefully would go well. But at the same time, a fear of it not going well arose. After dinner and after all the dishes were put away, the five of them sat down in the living room.

Lydia kept her eyes away from her dad, her stepmother, and the Maitlands but the sound of one of the four adults clearing their throat directed the teen's attention over towards the four of them. They each had their arms crossed and seemed to look equally as unhappy with the teenager. 

"We'd like to talk to you about your decision to go ahead and run away from home earlier today, Lydia," her dad spoke up, a mixture of sternness and seriousness in the tone of his voice. "And the reason why you did it." 

"I-..." Lydia became nervous, her eyes darting off to the side before focusing back on her dad, Delia, and the Maitlands. The four adults raised their eyebrows when the teenager had fallen silent. But only for a little while. Turning her attention solely towards her dad, she finally said, "I wanted to go back up to our house in New York. See if mom was still there. I miss her."

"And I know that," her dad responded with a sigh, resting a hand against his forehead and closing his eyes. Opening them again, he looked back at Lydia. "Lydia... look.... this is our home now and the Maitlands have been extra kind to allow us to share it with them." 

Lydia looked away with a huff, leaning against the back of the couch and resting an arm along its top. 

Charles cleared his throat again, and Lydia looked over towards him and the rest of the adults. "Lydia... please promise you'll never do something among the lines of running away from home again..."

Lydia groaned, and her dad raised an eyebrow.

"Lydia-." 

"Fine!" she groaned. "I promise or whatever!"

Both couples looked at one another. That wasn't a nice way to speak to any of them. Lydia had since lay herself down on the couch and was rolled over on her side, facing away from her dad, Delia, and the Maitlands. And all she seemed to want to do whenever any one of the four adults asked her a question was groan in annoyance. 

“Lydia!” her dad spoke, the sternness in his tone of voice both louder and clearer than it was before. 

Lydia didn’t say much of anything and instead just stood up from the couch and stomped her way upstairs. Which left all four of the adults of the household just sitting there and looking equally as confused and concerned as one another as the loud sound of Lydia's bedroom door slamming closed reverberated around the house.

“I don’t think she took that well...” was all Barbara said as the rest of the adults nodded in agreement.

Soon, when they had sat down for the evening, they heard Lydia’s bedroom door slam open and closed again as the sounds of Lydia’s footsteps stomping up the stairs to the attic space were heard. That brought concern to all four of the adults and they glanced at one another with looks of worry plastered on their faces. 

“Want Adam and I to go check on her?” Barbara turned her attention over towards Charles and Delia, both of whom gave their approval. 

Adam and Barbara nodded in return, then briefly stood up to make their way up the stairs to the house’s attic space. They both, like Lydia’s dad and stepmother, hoped that Lydia was okay. And that nothing was wrong.

Boy would they be wrong.

On the roof, Lydia gazed down at the note she'd written. That certain conversation she had had with her dad, stepmother, and the Maitlands over her running away was now fresh out of her mind. She turned her attention away from her note and down towards the ground three stories below. She stiffened even more and just stood there. Now she both did and didn't even want to go through with this, despite the reason being that she had gotten frustrated earlier. 

Eventually, she came to a decision. It was now or never. 

She looked down at the ground then turned her attention back to the note in her hands. "By the time you read this, I, Lydia Deetz, will be gone. I have no reason to stay. I'm an outcast, forsaken, alone..." 

"That makes two of us," an unknown, gravelly voice spoke up, startling the teen and causing her to forget all about what she was doing on the roof in the first place. 

Lydia spun on her heel, turning to face whoever had spoken. 

And she cautiously uttered the one thing that was on her mind at the moment, 

"Who the hell are you?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 😏😏😏😏


	5. Devil-May-Care

A look of wariness quickly replaced Lydia's previous look of caution and she backed away from the male standing before her on the roof, unsure of whether or not she should even trust him. His eyes widened as he pointed at himself and asked,

"Can you... see me?"

"Uh, yeah," replied Lydia, looking off to the side then looking back at the other guy on the roof. "You look like a bloated zebra that the lions ripped apart and then didn't eat because something was obviously wrong with it so it just rotted in the hot African sun."

"YOU CAN SEE ME!!" he shouted out with excitement, floating upwards in midair. Eventually though, he levitated back down towards the roof a few feet away from Lydia, who backed up even more.

"Yeah," Lydia repeated, still sounding a little cautious but confused at the same time. "But like I asked earlier... who the hell are you? What's your name?"

"Well... I can't say it."

Lydia looked off to the side, thinking for a minute, then turned her attention back towards the male 'guy'? "Charades?" He nodded, and began acting out what Lydia knew and assumed was the first word. "Uh... bug... ant... beetle?" The male nodded, then began to act out the second word. "Drink... beverage... wine... juice?"

Another nod from him.

"Beetle-juice? Your name's Betelgeuse?"

"Yes! Now say it a third time."

"Why?" Lydia sat herself down on the roof right across from Betelgeuse and gazed at him in confusion.

"Well... I want to be seen. And for that to happen, a living person... such as you... needs to say my name three times in a row. Spoken unbroken."

"Are you... not alive?" was all Lydia could think of saying.

He shook his head. "I'm a demon. I'm dead."

"A demon?" she repeated. "And you want me to say your name... three times?"

He nodded this time around. "Yes. Ready?" She nodded, though a clear plan was forming in her head as a smirk formed on her face. "Go!"

"Betelgeuse!"

"Yes."

"Betelgeuse!"

"Yesss!"

"Beeeee...."

"Lydia!!" the stressed voices of Adam and Barbara shouted out, cutting short the third time Lydia said Betelgeuse's name and causing both her and Betelgeuse to turn to look in their direction. They came to a stop, their gazes sliding completely over Betelgeuse, him being invisible to the two of them due to them being alive, like he'd told Lydia, and landing solidly on Lydia. "There you are. Are you okay?"

"Yeah... I'm fine," the teen looked off to the side, then turned her attention back to Adam and Barbara. "Why ask?"

"What are you doing out here on the roof, Lyd?" Barbara stressed out, a similarly matching expression appearing on Adam's face. "You got your dad and stepmother worried just as much as you got Adam and I worried. First you decide to run away from home today and now this! What's going on?"

Her gaze turned to the edge of the roof then focused back towards the Maitlands, her looking nervous. “I... I... I wanted to jump. Take my life and join my mom in the afterlife.”

“Why?” Barbara spoke out in a stern, but concerned tone of voice.

“I...” she stopped, trailing off and looking away from the Maitlands, brushing a hand through her hair.

“Lyd. Come back inside and talk to us and your dad and stepmother about this.”

She sighed and nodded, following Adam and Barbara back inside with Barbara closing the window behind her. She knew she had no choice now. And she knew that her dad and her stepmother would certainly not be all that happy to learn that she had tried to commit suicide on the roof. And how was she going to talk to them about her seeing Betelgeuse, knowing full well that none of them would believe her?


End file.
